Discovering good movies, one bad movie at a time


Our next podcast topic comes to us courtesy of Patreon subscriber Martha, who wants us to help shed some light on one of the film industry’s most notorious shortcomings: the challenges facing women who want to direct movies at every level, from thorny little indies to massive blockbusters (such as Wonder Woman 1984, helmed by Patty Jenkins, which was supposed to open next week till it got pandemicked away). As former Ottawa mayor Charlotte Witton once said, “Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult”, and we’ll proving that with our picks for the best women directors of all time, talented artists who had to make some of the best films ever just to get overlooked and forgotten about only some of the time.

In Worth Mentioning, we cover Antebellum, Cuties, Spontaneous and The Conversation, thanks to Patreon Travis Neely.

Here were our Top 5 Women Directors:

ROB
1. Penny Marshall, BIG (1988)
2. Kathryn Bigelow, POINT BREAK (1991)
3. The Wachowski’s, THE MATRIX (1999)
4. Amy Heckerling, CLUELESS (1995)
5. Nancy Meyers, SOMETHING’S GOTTA GIVE (2003)

CARRIE
1. Penny Marshall, A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN (1993)
2. Greta Gerwig, LADY BIRD (2017)
3. Céline Sciamma, PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (2019)
4. Lulu Wang, THE FAREWELL (2019)
5. Marielle Heller, A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD (2019)

TIM
1. Agnès Varda, CLÉO FROM 5 TO 7 (1962)
2. Claire Denis, BEAU TRAVAIL (1999)
3. Jane Campion, THE PIANO (1993)
4. Chantal Akerman, JEANNE DIELMAN, 23 QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES (1975)
5. Larisa Shepitko, THE ASCENT (1977)

Rob

Big (1988)
Point Break (1991)
The Matrix (1999)
Clueless (1995)
Something’s Gotta Give (2003)

Carrie

A League of Their Own (1992)
Lady Bird (2017)
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
The Farewell (2019)
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)

Tim

Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962)
Beau Travail (1999)
The Piano (1993)
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
The Ascent